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Tips for reading the Bible
When we come to read the Bible how should we do it? Here are two tips I’ve come across from John Owen.
1. Prayerfully ask God to help you discover what the passage says about him and his ways.
2. Prayefully ask God to help you delight in what you discover about him.
As we mine it may we all discover and delight in the riches of God’s word.
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Building evangelistic opportunities into your daily life
Jonathan Dodson is a pastor in the US http://creationproject.wordpress.com/ He has come up with 8 ways to build evangelism into your daily life without overloading your schedule…they include:
1. Eat with non-christians
2. Walk, don’t drive to places
3. Be a regular at a shop, petrol station, restaurant
4. Do hobbies/ sports with non-christians
5. Find time to talk to your work colleagues (afterwork, at breaks etc.)
6. Volunteer for a charity somewhere
7. Get involved in city wide events (such as festivals, shows etc.)
8. Look for opportunities to serve your neighbours (with their car, garden etc.)
The key thing in Jonathan’s thinking is not that we should be adding evangelism onto our schedules but to make our schedules evangelistic. Try doing it this summer.
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Which Christian books should I read?
There is a bewildering array of books out there. Amazon alone sells 124,362 different Christian titles. So to make things easier, here are a list of books that every student can read during their time at university. We’ve got 1 book-for-all-time and 18 books for the rest of your uni-life.
There is one book that is infinitely better than anything else we could recommend on this page. It is called the Bible, and is life-changing and sufficient, because it’s the primary way that God speaks to us. By his Spirit, every reading is a soul-feast; every reading helps us see the one, true, awesome God more clearly; every reading helps us feel his majesty more; every reading helps us know the depth of our sin and need for God, and the glorious wonder of redemption through Jesus. The Bible is the best book. Read that.
Which Bible?
We recommend the ESV Bible for reading and studying. Although most people find the NIV easier to read, we feel the ESV’s better for study because it is an ‘essentially literal’ translation that seeks as far as possible to capture the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer.
The ESV Study Bible has lots of helpful articles and commentaries for those times when you’re stumped by a particular passage, and we’d highly recommend it. In addition, Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology is an excellent reference tool for helping us understand how the main topics and themes in the Bible pull together.
Eighteen books
We reckon you can read six Christian books each year: that’s just one each term and one every holiday (Christmas, Easter and Summer). If you’re on a three-year course, that’s eighteen books whilst at uni — a real feast for your soul. So here’s our balanced diet of the top eighteen, split into three groups. Why not start reading one now? They’re all available on the SBS bookstall.
Revelling in God
John Piper, The Pleasures of God (first 3 chapters)
D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
J.I. Packer, Knowing God
C.J. Mahaney, Living The Cross-Centred Life
What We Believe about the Five Points of Calvinism (coming soon to SBS)
S.M. Houghton, Sketches from Church History
Revelling in the Bible
Nigel Beynon and Andrew Sach, Dig Deeper
Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture
Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Samuel
Christopher Ash, Out of the Storm: Job
D.A. Carson, Basics for Believers: Studies in Philippians
Rico Tice and Barry Cooper, Christianity Explored
Revelling in living for Jesus
Elizabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendour
John Piper, Roots of Endurance (free!) or Sharon James, In Trouble and In Joy
Tim Chester, You Can Change
Vaughan Roberts, Distinctives
Josh Harris, Boy Meets Girl
Kent/Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man/Woman
A Little Extra: Four Classics to Try
John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress
John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence
Jeremiah Brewer, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
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How do I choose a church?
Getting involved in a good church is vital, whether that’s at uni, at home, or in any new place you find yourself for more than a few days. Christians are, by nature, in partnership with God and other believers: that’s the ‘fellowship’ in 1 John 1:6-7. And part of that partnership means making a point of meeting together to encourage one another to be centred on the God of truth (Hebrews 10:25).
So how do you know which church family to become involved in? Does being at Platt make you an Anglican-for-life? Should you be looking for a church with a funky band that needs a good drummer, or cake-maker, or whatever is your thing? Is it all about what feels right?
Here are three mostly-objective ‘B’s, starting with the most important, that you can carry around in your head as you visit different churches and decide which one to go to: BIBLE, BELONG and BRING. And this is what we mean by them:
BIBLE
What is this church’s view of the Bible? Are the sermons or talks proclaiming and explaining what the Bible says, rather than giving opinions or nice thoughts with occasional reference to Scripture? Do the preachers show you how they get their arguments and conclusions from the Bible? Do people seem to love the God that is revealed in the Bible, in all of his holiness, love and justice? ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul’ (Psalm 19:7) … choose a church where your soul will live!
BELONG
Can you get stuck in to this church? Are there opportunities for you to join a small group of people who you can get to know and study the Bible with? Are there ways you can use your God-given gifts to serve the church? Acts 2:46-47 shows this working really well in the early church … choose a church that you can belong to.
BRING
Is this the kind of church you could bring mates along to? So, is it local and is the way things are done reasonably accessible to non-Christians? Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6) … choose a church where your mates might get to know him!
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Summer SBS starts this week!
This Thursday at 7:30pm, Summer SBS kicks off at 10 Aldwych Avenue. Over the summer, we’ll be looking at Jesus throughout the Bible. We’ll be seeing how he is more than a carpenter, though not less. We’ll see that he is more than our glorious crucified and risen Saviour, but not less. This week, we’ll dig into Colossians 1 and see how Jesus Christ is the creator of everything. So be there if you can, and feel free to drop in any other week you’re around. It’s going to be exciting!
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Become missions-minded…
New Tribes Mission (NTM) are a radical group seeking to bring the good news about Jesus to unreached peoples. Their annual conference is this month: 19-21 June. Camping might be necessary, but Lydia assures us that the weather in Lincolnshire is always good! For further info, chat to Lydia Poulson (or chat to Paul Jump).
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Concluding Esther
Those of you who were at the final SBS of the year would have heard Lloyd Lee’s excellent concluding talk on the book of Esther. For those who weren’t able to make it it is well worth listening to on the podcast… he gives a helpful overview of the book, explains the feast of Purim and shows how the book points to and is fulfilled by Jesus.
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Become a Fan on Facebook…
Join in the Facebook fun by becoming part of the Platt Students Facebook page gang. It’s one of the best ways to keep switched on with what’s going on with Platt Students and making sure you don’t miss out on all the helpful soul-feasting content we’ll be putting up here throughout the year.
So do become a fan and invite your friends as well so they can get to know Jesus better too.
Platt Students on Facebook, for Jesus’ glory.
